Sustainable, Ethical, Size Inclusive, Slow Fashion and Colourful.

Ethically made. Locally made. Made to order. Minimal waste. Sustainable. Transparent.

Courtney Makins founded Makins in 2020, aiming to make a positive change to the current fashion industry and promote Australian fashion production, especially in Perth.

Makins is located and manufactured in Perth, WA.

Who makes your clothes?

All products are made by myself, Courtney Makins.

Can you share a little more about your values?

Ethically Made/Locally Made: All products are made in Perth under safe and fair working conditions including wages.

Made to Order: Due to our small fabric quantities all products are made to order. This avoids wastage in products for sizes that might not sell well and we don’t end up with excess waste stock!

Minimal waste: At Makins we minimise our waste by ordering small fabric quantities and collecting all our fabric scraps and sending them to a textiles recycling facility to be repurposed. We also ensure all our packaging is either 100% recyclable or 100% compostable.

Sustainable: We try and source fabrics that are deadstock or are ethically produced. All our care labels are made from 100% recycled material, name labels are made from 50% recycled material and swing tags are made from 40% recycled material. Our thread and elastic are both 100% GOTS Certified and we use shell buttons repurposed from food waste.

Transparent: We try to be transparent about where our materials are sourced and their certifications, they are all listed with each garment. This is something we will always work with, as our materials and sourcing changes and updates.

Size Inclusive: Makins is size inclusive and offers the options from sizes 0 – 11 (4 – 26 Australian size comparison). We will also try and promote a positive body image, to combat all the negativity to do with the body currently in the fashion industry.

Which particular fabrics do you use?

I mainly use deadstock fabric, as this prevents this fabric from going straight to landfill.

Any extra efforts you make at Makins that you can share?

Makins offers a repair program using the Japanese Sashiko method to help clothing live a little longer and gain more character, while promoting slow fashion.
Makins will also try and support other Australian businesses, as we would like to help try and grow the fashion and textiles industry in Australia, especially in Perth. Unfortunately too much production has moved overseas and it would be great if we could build a more ethical industry for future generations wishing to enter the fashion industry in Australia.

Can you share some labels you admire?

Rich Mnsi (South African), Thebe Magugu (South African) and North (Australian).

Price guide:    $50 – 100 up to $500+

Size guide:      0 – 11 (Australian 4 – 26)

Want to get in touch with Courtney at Makins:

madebymakins.com.au / @madebymakins / Makins – | Facebook / [email protected]